ONE of Teesside’s most experienced and respected police officers hangs up his hat this month.

Cleveland Police Deputy Chief Constable Ron Hogg, 56, is retiring after a career which has seen him serve all three forces in the North-east and head major national and international operations.

He began his career as a beat bobby on the streets of Byker and ends it as number two in Cleveland, having also worked as an Assistant Chief Constable with Durham.

Mr Hogg joined Northumbria Police in 1978 before transferring to Northamptonshire Police in 1981 as a constable.

In August 1992 he returned to Northumbria as a Superintendent and in February 1996 he was promoted to Chief Superintendent and began working with Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary in Cambridge.

He was appointed Assistant Chief Constable with Durham Police in 1998 and assumed the national role for policing football and targeting soccer hooligans. This included policing the 2002 World Cup in South Korea and Japan.

Since then, force performance has improved from being judged the worst in the country to mid-table and rising.

Mr Hogg said the recently introduced neighbourhood policing was a return to grass roots policing that should be applauded.

“That probably is the best improvement to policing in recent years,” he said. “It is a return to the traditional beat bobby but with all the modern day technological back up needed to fight crime.

“The public like to see their police on the streets, a day to day part of the community and neighbourhood policing does just that.”

Like many officers, he feels the biggest burden on the police is paperwork.

“There is no doubt that the amount of form filling required of today’s police officers is a huge increase on when I started 30 years ago.

“Individual Chief Constables didn’t suddenly wake up one morning and invent all this paperwork, in most cases it is imposed nationally.

“I sympathise with the calls to reduce paperwork, but by the same token you have to accept that if you do that it means you will have less detailed information available.”

He added: “I have enjoyed my time as a police officer. There have been many highlights and I would certainly recommend the police force to any young person looking for an interesting and fulfilling career.”

Mr Hogg said the three North-east forces were “different and distinct” from each other, and should remain so.

He added: “However, it is important to continue to explore collaborative opportunities, not only to deliver efficiencies, but also to be better able to deal with serious and organised crime.”